Electra's choice
by ShiningOnLife
Summary: Tentative first fic. Will probably continue into further chapters. Please R&R, constructive critism is welcome.


**Electra's choice**

Chapter 1

Electra was rudely awakened by a foot landing heavily on her tail. "Ouch…mwwfff!" She jerked upright, and was greeted by a mouthful of fur.

"Go back to sleep, s'only Tumble." Mumbled Etcetera sleepily. Electra huffed, and started picking hairs out of her mouth.

As she settled back to sleep, Electra thought back to when she arrived in the yard with her sister Etcetera, not three months ago. It all started when their mama disappeared. One minute they were settling down in their usual heap of rust, white and black fur, and the next they were all alone. She had cried and cried, but her mama hadn't come back. So it was up to her to look after her sister. Cettie was the same age, but Electra had always felt protective of her. For three days they huddled together in the old milk crate that had been their home when one perishingly cold November day, they heard voices.

"Now then dearie, I'm sure I scented another jellicle round here." A kindly looking orange tabby face filled the opening. "hello dearies, whatever are you doing all alone in here? I'm Jennyanydots by the way, but you can call me Jenny. Dear, dear, dear we can't have you stay here in the damp." Jenny took them both back to the yard, where they had been ever since.

Electra rolled over…straight into Jemima. "Ooof!"

"Oh, sorry Jem, just can't sleep, too much to think about" She was answered with a mewling snore. She wriggled out of the fur pile, and hopped out of the old water barrel they slept in. She glanced back at the pile, made up of Cettie, Tumblebrutus, Pouncival and Jemima.

"Hey sweetcheeks" Tugger called to her as she plodded past. She pointedly ignored him. True, she had been quite taken with the handsome leopard cat when she first met him, but after a few days she realised that he wasn't what she thought he was. Far from being gentle and caring, he was cocky and egotistic. Cettie still hung round him, but that would soon stop…she hoped.

She came to a stop as she reached the huge drainage pipe that opened onto the 'dance floor' Jenny had explained to her about the Jellicle ball, and how they danced the night away with their friends. Electra couldn't wait! She loved to dance, but was often too shy to show it. Now though, wasn't the time for dancing. Now, she needed to think. She crept inside the pipe and curled into a tight ball. Somehow, even though the tribe had accepted her and Cettie as Jenny predicted, she didn't feel as if this is where she was meant to be. It wasn't home.

Was it the fact that she was the youngest? Or that Cettie was settling in so well, and was the life and soul of every game? Or could it be that she never found out what really happened to her dear Mama? No, she decided, it wasn't any of those things. She couldn't pin it down, it was a niggling little worry at the back of her mind, that one day they would find out about her, and then she would be kicked out faster than she could demolish a herring. They couldn't allow a thief in the tribe, even if she was barely a teen. What was it her Mama had said to her on the first 'outing'?

"Leccy sweetheart, you are the only one who can fit through the windows or in the utility pipe"

She hated it, she always had, but her Mama needed her, but now she was gone. And if they found out, she and Cettie would be separated. Or even worse, Cettie would be outcast too, she was better off here, if she was going, she was going alone.

Electra sighed loudly. "What should I do? Should I stay or should I go?"

A male voice came from the end of the pipe "Can you tell me, I don't know"

"Tugger…" Electra growled. "I am so not in the mood to even look at you, let alone talk to you. Please leave me alone."

"Awww, c'mon Leccy, I'm not such a bad guy. Whatchoo stressin' about? C'mon, tell the Tugger. Rumpus help me if I can't help you."

Electra lifted one eyebrow and wrinkled her nose, utterly confused. "You what?"

"Well, honey, if you're stuck in this stinkin' pipe, asking yourself questions, I'd take a wild swing at the fact you're worrying your pretty little head over something. You gonna give the Tugger a clue?"


End file.
